It looks like The Academy is in hot water again!
Chris Rock did an AH-Mazing job of putting the organization on blast for its lack of diversity at the 2016 Oscars.
But during the ceremony, he still managed to tell some racially insensitive jokes himself that played with Asian stereotypes — and some people weren’t laughing about it.
George Takei, Ang Lee, and Sandra Oh were some of 25 Academy members of Asian descent that sent a letter to the Academy protesting jokes about Asian’s during the Oscars last month.
Related: Henry Cavill Questions If The Oscars’ Push For Diversity Is ‘Racist’!
These old and lame jokes included Rock’s skit that introduced three Asian children as Academy accountants, and an ad-libbed comment by Sacha Baron Cohen suggesting that Asians have small peens.
The letter asked for “concrete steps” to make sure that award shows will avoid the “tone-deaf approach” to Asians in the future. The letter states:
“In light of criticism over #OscarsSoWhite, we were hopeful that the telecast would provide the Academy a way forward and the chance to present a spectacular example of inclusion and diversity. Instead, the Oscars show was marred by a tone-deaf approach to its portrayal of Asians…We’d like to know how such tasteless and offensive skits could have happened and what process you have in place to preclude such unconscious or outright bias and racism toward any group in future Oscars telecasts.”
After the letter was delivered before the board meeting on Tuesday — which included president Cheryl Boone Isaacs — the Academy issued an apology, sharing the following statement:
“The Academy appreciates the concerns stated, and regrets that any aspect of the Oscar telecast was offensive. We are committed to doing our best to ensure that material in future shows be more culturally sensitive.”
Wasn’t that their original sentiment back when they apologized for #OscarsSoWhite…?
Oh well, at least they responded.
[Image via Ivan Nikolov/WENN.]
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